The GOP's digital deficit

Republicans are running a 1.0 digital ground game operation in a 3.0 world — and they know it.

At their recent leadership retreat, Chairman Reince Priebus and others sounded the bell for closing the vast technological divide that made all the difference for Democrats in getting out the votelast fall in numbers that stunned the pundit class.

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“Let’s host Skype-based training sessions and Google hangouts on campaign strategy, fundraising, door-to-door advocacy, and digital tools,” Priebus urged at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in Charlotte, N.C. “We need to give the next generation of organizers access to the brightest experts.”

He went on: “And in the digital space, we don’t want just to keep up. We want to seize the lead.”

That’s easier said than done, and insiders aren’t heartened that the most specific he got was references to well-worn online video conferencing tools.

Simply put, the Democratic National Committee has nearly a decade’s jump — and counting — thanks to innovative software for gathering detailed voter information that includes input from Democratic campaigns at every level of the ballot. While Priebus and others repeatedly cite the technological superiority of the president’s campaign in particular, it’s unclear whether they realize the DNC itself has been building that information backbone prior to Obama’s first run.

The stakes are high. That information allowed Democrats in 2012 to identify likely voters and customize campaign messages for targeted groups — such as sending mailings about protecting reproductive rights to women under 40. In addition, they used the data to find new voters and ensure they get to the polls.

The DNC’s system, known as the Voter Activation Network is a mammoth, ongoing database that has been tracking the interests, voting histories, family circumstances and much more on more than 150 million voters since 2006. That’s when then-DNC Chairman Howard Dean mandated that every state-level Democratic unit contribute to and have access to the same system, developing a powerful weapon that the GOP simply won’t match in the near term.

“Republicans have historically been a lot more selfish about their sharing of data and sharing of information,” said Vincent Harris, the 24-year-old GOP digital strategist who leveraged social media to put little-known Ted Cruz on his path to the Senate. “There’s no central hub. That integration is priceless, and that’s what [Priebus] needs to lead us on.”

Meanwhile, Harris warned, “Every day that goes by, we are getting further and further behind.”

Indeed, while the president’s Chicago-based geek squad earned widespread admiration and GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s online team endured some humiliations last fall, those elements alone don’t explain the poll-defying voter turnout that led to Democratic victories down the ballot.

For that, the VAN is the unsung hero.

Every contact with voters, from a door-knock that found someone has moved to a phone call that reveals a specific political issue of top concern for a particular household, is fed into the same database. Volunteers and staff for virtually all Democratic candidates from president to dog catcher add whatever they learn as they learn it, building out comprehensive and constantly refined files on millions of voters.